Well-Intentioned Behemoth in the Bahamas

This photo released by Baha Mar shows construction of the resort on the beach on New Providence island, Bahamas, in January. The project will add thousands of hotel rooms not far from the island'­ biggest resort, the Atlantis.Credit
Jeong Ku Hwang/Baha Mar, via Associated Press

NEW PROVIDENCE, BAHAMAS — Less than two years away from its scheduled December 2014 completion target, the colossal Baha Mar Resort rising up from the Cable Beach coast of New Providence Island is acclaimed by its owners as one of the greenest luxury tourist developments yet built in the Bahamas.

The resort will incorporate sophisticated water management and waste recycling systems to serve its planned 2,200 new hotel rooms; its three luxury spas; retail and entertainment facilities including pools, restaurants, high-end boutiques and what is billed as the region’s largest casino; and an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course. The development has also been designed to protect and conserve nearly 100 acres, or 40 hectares, of neighboring wilderness and wetlands.

But the question that begs to be asked is how green the mega-resort will be compared with not building it at all?

That question warrants extra attention because one of Baha Mar’s most ambitious features, an alternative energy project that would have slashed the resort’s air conditioning costs, has been sidelined because of scheduling challenges.

The project envisaged building a deep sea cooling plant using a still-experimental renewable energy technology known as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, or OTEC. The technology harnesses thermodynamics to generate power by tapping into the temperature differential between frigid water on the ocean floor and warmer water near the surface.

The $102 million system was meant to reduce the resort’s air conditioning bill by as much as 90 percent annually. But protracted planning delays and controversy surrounding the facility’s proposed location left the developers facing the likelihood that waiting on the OTEC plant would put the resort’s planned opening date in jeopardy.

In response, the company last year switched tack, deciding to install conventional air conditioning systems — which could burn nearly 60,000 barrels of oil annually.

“When we talk about energy-efficient projects we should back up a minute and take a look at the existing master plan,” Mr. Dunlap said, referring to the fact that much of the resort is being built on land already zoned for tourism and partially developed since the 1970s.

Baha Mar’s $3.5 billion project replaces an earlier generation of energy-inefficient buildings housing just over 1,000 hotel rooms, including the 770-room Nassau Beach Hotel and two towers belonging to the Wyndham Nassau Resort, as well as a police and fire station, three banks and a cluster of Bahamian municipal facilities.

As part of the company’s effort to reduce the project’s environmental footprint, concrete from these now-demolished buildings has been crushed and used as site fill. Steel framing and support beams have been recycled, and fittings like sinks and showers have been donated to an agency that provides emergency relief for victims of hurricanes and other disasters.

One of Baha Mar’s most significant demonstrations of environmental commitment is its preservation of untouched land in the form of a 70-acre “no build zone” that it has set aside within a swath of red mangrove wetlands. The company donated $2 million to preserve the wetlands and build eco-sensitive trails for visitors to explore the area — an ecosystem of native trees and scrub brush that is one of the largest bird habitats in the Bahamas.

Another demonstration came early in the construction program when a tree farm was opened for more than 200 Casuarina and other native trees removed from the site: They will be replanted around the resort and along the road leading to it as the building nears completion.

In addition to creating thousands of jobs and strengthening the future economy of New Providence, the Baha Mar development aims to return Cable Beach’s extensive coastline to something closer to its original shape by eradicating a cement sea wall that was built in the 1970s and has contributed to massive coastline erosion since then.

Yet, despite the environmental awareness shown in the building program, there remain concerns about the long-term impact that another high-occupancy resort will have on the island, and not least the enormous future energy requirements of a 1,000-acre playground that will be almost twice the size of London’s recently completed Olympic park.

“Building a really efficient commercial development tends to be cost-prohibitive and almost impossible for a resort to achieve,” said Justin Krammer, who developed sustainable construction practices at Florida State University before moving into private residential and commercial development with a Florida-based firm, RCI Development.

“Even net zero builds that depend heavily on sunlight and barely balance out electric usage require a phenomenal input of solar technology to work,” Mr. Krammer noted, referring to buildings designed to produce as much energy as they use, with no emissions of greenhouse gas.

“Everyone gets so excited about making everything as ‘green’ as possible at the start of things, and their intentions are generally good,” said Mr. Krammer. “And then they see the price tag, or the installment deadlines don’t line up, and they decide to move into cheaper and more polluting systems because the necessary frills, like casino machines or dancing fountains, outweigh their nuts-and-bolts utility.

“It all boils down to opening on time and paying back your investors.”

Baha Mar’s management still says it intends one day to build the deep-sea cooling plant and retrofit the resort with air conditioning systems suited to OTEC technology, but skeptics are not holding their breath.

Meanwhile, the old Cable Beach golf course, now part of Baha Mar’s real estate, is receiving a $25 million makeover to become a Jack Nicklaus Signature course. It is scheduled to open in December, a year before the resort.

Here again, the developers are trying to tread with a light step: Archaeologists surveying the site discovered a large cave with human bones, pottery and other artifacts dating from before the arrival of Columbus. Baha Mar says it intends to protect the archaeological site from golfers and allow archaeologists access for further study.

It also says it will reduce to a minimum the course’s thirst for freshwater resources.

“We are using a state-of-the-art, precision irrigation system, with a weather-detection system and soil sensors,” said Chris Cochran, Senior Design Associate for Jack Nicklaus Design. “Which means we are minimizing the amount of turf that needs to be irrigated, about 70 acres, and water the course with a mix of brackish water from the on-site lakes and reclaimed water from the local water authority.”

Baha Mar plans to plant the irrigated area with saltwater-tolerant Paspalum grass. Still, “I’ve not heard of a golf course ever being sustainable,” said Mr. Krammer. “People have expectations about the color and quality of golf course turf, and amounts of water and fertilizers that this requires can be catastrophic.”

This will not be the only golf course on Cable Beach, moreover: Baha Mar has reserved a further 400 acres for a future golf and hotel development: That, too, will certainly need looking after.